[quote name='Mr.Answer']Tea tea and more tea please. The beauty of tea is there are so many kinds that it is like wine tasting. I love going to a tea shop and getting 10 kinds of very different teas. Ever have white tea? mmmmm![/QUOTE]
I love white tea, but it's high maintenance as far as teas go. If you leave it too long then it tastes awful. And if you're using a teabag, you need a watch since it can't really sit for more than a minute.
Chai is very good, but it's one of the most erratic drinks. Starbucks has awful chai, panera bread has great chai, borders is alright, most other places I've tried are horrible. Oregon chai is very good, tazo is very bad. It's an entirely different drink depending on where you buy it, even though the ingredients are basically the same. I make chai myself sometimes to, which is pretty good but expensive the first time (since I buy spices, honey and vanilla syrup).
I love tea shops, but boston doesn't have any real tea shops. The most we have is tealuxe, which has a relatively small selection of loose leaf and fruit teas. Toronto had plenty of good tea shops though. My favorite tea is "eve's temptation", made with apple mango and bannana. But I can't get it anymore. A place in portland maine used to sell it, but it's been closed for at least a year. Indigo books in toronto used to sell it too (wasn't as good though, banana was the main flavour instead of the apple like in portland), but they changed brands.
I don't think there is, but does anyone know of any real tea shops in any of these areas: central/eastern ma, southern NH, southern maine, or burke/lyndonville/st johnsbury area in vermont?